Thunderbolt as Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2015-05-07
·
922 words · ~4 min read
0:00
So, let's open up by busting that Thunderbolt is only for Macs myth. It
0:05
was co-developed by Apple and Intel, but the full rights were eventually
0:08
transferred to Intel, and now anyone can implement it. And since I've got my
0:13
history lesson hat on, I might as well give you guys another little factoid.
0:17
The original prototype cenamed Light Peak was actually an optical technology,
0:22
which would have enabled higher transfer speeds and longer cables. But since
0:27
copper can carry power in addition to data, and Intel saw better than expected
0:31
results when testing with copper, all of the Thunderbolt cables you see today
0:35
will have connectors on each end that look exactly like mini DisplayPort, but
0:38
with little lightning bolt symbols on them and with only copper wires inside
0:43
them. But what do those wires do, Ven Lionus? Well, they carry a combination
0:47
of PCI Express and DisplayPort on one
0:51
serial signal, as well as a DC connection for power, all wrapped up in
0:56
one cable. This means that the Thunderbolt interface can be used to
0:59
connect and power display, audio, and
1:03
storage devices, as well as USB, FireWire, and gated Ethernet via
1:06
adapters. I mean, the sky's is pretty much the limit. To top that off, you can
1:10
run up to six total devices at a time off of a single connector by daisy
1:15
chaining them all together or by connecting to a hub. Cool stuff. And
1:19
while I don't think it's fair to say that Thunderbolt 1 took the market by
1:23
storm compared to USB 3, it was very expensive, it was certainly a standard
1:28
unlike anything that we had seen before. And it continues to evolve. In 2013,
1:33
Thunderbolt 2 arrived with some big changes. Bandwidth was doubled to 20
1:38
Gbit birectional, enough to watch 4K video while simultaneously running a
1:43
high-speed storage device over one cable. And maximum transfer speeds were
1:47
raised to 1,500 megabytes per second,
1:50
though overhead and PCI Express limits keep you from hitting speeds even close
1:54
to that max spec in the real world. On top of that, it maintained the same
1:58
connector, which means V1 and V2 are intercompatible. The link will simply
2:03
operate at the speed of the slower device. All right. Well, that's it then,
2:07
right? 20 Gbit per second simultaneously with 4K video and you get your
2:11
high-speed storage through one cable. It's that I mean, that's enough, right?
2:14
No, we need more
2:18
power. Excuse me. Not really sure what happened there. Anyway, we need more
2:22
power. And by that, I mean we need higher speeds and greater capabilities
2:25
with less actual power consumption. 50% less if we can rely on a leaked slide of
2:30
Thunderbolt 3 specs from April 2014. This new format is rumored to come with
2:34
a doubling of the current Thunderbolt bandwidth from 20 to 40 Gbit per second.
2:38
And it'll be capable of four modes, including HDMI 2.0. Woo, cool. It should
2:44
have support for PCR Express Gen 3 and is rumored to be capable of charging
2:48
devices that require up to 100 watts of power. The bad news is that it's also
2:54
rumored to require a new connector. So, adapters will be needed for backwards
2:59
compatibility. Now, while we haven't yet reached the 100 Gbit per second maximum
3:03
speeds over Thunderbolt that Intel promised when they released the protocol, I've seen unofficial
3:08
statements projecting that speed by around 2020, but nothing confirmed yet.
3:11
We're still very early in the life cycle, and at the rate Thunderbolt's
3:14
been moving, I'd be surprised if it takes that long. And I'm very excited to
3:18
see the future of this. It's uh very promising, but still very expensive
3:24
technology. Speaking of things that are very expensive, going to the store and
3:28
buying razor refills for I mean, for some reason, why do they cost so much?
3:33
They're pieces of metal and they're in like plastic. Metal and plastic. Not
3:38
that expensive. Well, I don't think they should be that expensive, and neither
3:42
does today's episode sponsor, dollarshave club.
3:45
dollarshaveclub.com is the place to go if you want to join the club and stop
3:49
paying way too much for high quality
3:53
razors and for that matter other bathroom supplies. They've got a range
3:57
of different razor options, everything up to the executive with six blades.
4:01
They've got their Dr. Carver shave butter which goes on clear so you can
4:05
see what you're doing. And they've even got their one wipe charlies which are
4:09
peppermint scented butt wipes for men. And they've even got an aftershave now
4:13
too. These guys are like trying to take over the world. Well, okay, maybe not
4:17
quite the world, but at least the US, Canada, and Australia, where people can
4:21
join the club and for a reasonable amount of money per month, make sure
4:25
that they're always getting a nice clean shave. So guys, check out the link that
4:30
is in the lower third right here and also in the video description to join the club today. Also, like this video if
4:35
you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. Leave a comment letting me know if you have suggestions for future fastest
4:40
possible episodes. And as always, don't forget to subscribe to Techquicki and
4:44
please share the videos. That's also helpful, too, if you enjoyed them.